Groups Look At Keeping Tuscawilla Beautiful

WINTER SPRINGS — A crowd is expected at a workshop Monday night to discuss whether Winter Springs or Tuscawilla residents should pay to maintain common areas in that community.

City commissioners also will hear comments on whether Tuscawilla residents should be given a chance to vote on the issue - an option that the Tuscawilla Homeowners Association has opposed.

The workshop is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at the municipal building on State Road 434.

City officials have told homeowners that the city would take over the upkeep of medians, entrances, signs and walls when the developers stop paying those costs. The city has said, however, it may not have the personnel or money to maintain the areas as residents have come to expect.

Recently, the city learned that the developer planned to discontinue the maintenance, estimated at $153,000 annually, on Oct. 1.

For residents living in the nearly 4,000 homes in Tuscawilla, that would mean paying an annual fee of about $40 each. The fee could go higher if extra landscaping is included in the maintenance.

Members of the Tuscawilla Homeowners Association, which has pushed for a special taxing district in the community to help pay for the maintenance, has proposed the creation of a board of governors to oversee the collection of the funds and decide how the funds would be spent.

Association members have not said whether they believe members of that board should be appointed by the association or city commission or elected by the residents. They also have not said whether they believe board members should be paid for their services from the fees collected.

Some residents oppose payment of any additional funds to maintain the common areas, especially members of private homeowners associations within the community who already pay similar maintenance fees for their neighborhoods.

While they have asked that the decision be made by the residents in a referendum, other residents say such a vote wouldn't be fair.

Bill Reischmann, a resident and an attorney representing the Tuscawilla Homeowners Association, said Monday night that only property owners who are registered to vote would have a say.

Until a decision is made, City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher said city representatives, builders and representatives from homeowners associations would try to come up with an interim plan to maintain common areas.